Thursday.
One day left in the work week.

Fairly quiet day at work.

On the radio today:

  • Talk of the Nation:
    • The Future of the Catholic Church was the first topic on the agenda. The overall discussion focused on the current scandals of sexual abuse by priests. The guests were (first half-hour) Tom Groome, a professor at Boston College and a former priest and (second half-hour) George Weigel, Catholic Theologian and Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Mr. Groome seemed a bit more liberal in his views, but is still firmly rooted in the Catholic Church’s tenets; I started the second half-hour disliking Mr Weigel, but his clarity and directness did prove persuasive and convincing.

      The main thing that irritated me about this segment was a caller who prefaced a statement by saying “… before I say anything else, I need to tell you that do I have friends who are homosexual and lesbians and I care for them deeply, but when it comes to the Catholic religion I don’t believe that they have any place in the priesthood or being nuns….“¹ It brought to mind last night’s back-to-back episodes of “Family Ties;” Jess was watching it in the living room and I started watching them with her. They were the episodes where Steven Keaton’s co-worker, Gus, and his family moved into the neighborhood… and the commotion that this caused with the neighbors. Why was there a problem? Because they were African-American and the neighbors didn’t want their property values to decrease because they had moved in. *boggle* It also reminded me of people who automatically resort to racial identification to explain whom Person A is to Person B. While I realize that identifying someone by race makes it “easier” to form a visual picture, but I’m one of those people who think that it shouldn’t matter. Sexual orientation? Same brand, different flavor.

      It was pleasing to hear both of the in-studio guests speak positively and in a non-condemning manner about gay and lesbian members of the clergy and in convents. Mr. Weigel even made note that the issue of pedophilia is exclusive to homosexual members of the clergy; he admitted that “…it is entirely possible for a person of homosexual orientation – a man of homosexual orientation – to lead a fully chaste life in the ministry.”²

  • All Things Considered:
    • Charles Pickering In this segment, Susan Stamsberg and Nina Totenberg discussed the vote for admitting Judge Pickering to the federal appeals bench. It was noted that this is the first Bush nominee whose admission has been blocked and that more nominees have been admitted to the bench in the first nine months of President Bush’s administration than were admitted in the first three years of the Clinton administration.
    • Pearl Investigation – Grand Jury Indictment Attorney General Ashcroft said that he wanted to signal his intent to bring Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the man charged with the kidnapping/murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, to justice. It was noted that if he is extradicted to the U.S., the trial would be held in New Jersey, the temporary home/headquarters of the WSJ. And they really think that he will get an impartial jury of his peers here….? This almost immediately reminded me of the reasons that the O.J. Simpson trial was moved. But, maybe that’s just me.
    • Rosie Commentator Michael Alvear asserted that Rosie O’Donnell, who “outted” herself in an interview with Diane Sawyer, chose to make her orientation known at this time to help increase sales of her new book. Ms. O’Donnell’s stated reasons for doing it are to help bring to light the status of gay adoptions in Florida; she is attempting to adopt a child there to whom she is a foster mother. To me, and to my friends who heard the commentary, he just sounded a little bitter.
    • Beethoven’s Wig If you have ever attempted to unsuccessfully introduce classical music to a child (or if your inner child likes to come out and play), this is the CD for you. Richard Perlmutter has “composed silly lyrics… that both tell a story about the artist and can help [the] classically impaired remember the names and composers of these old faves.”³ Julia and I nearly doubled over in fits of laughter at some of the sound clips that they played from the CD. This comes under the “Must Purchase” heading and will go very well with my Schoolhouse Rock!, Animaniacs, and Disney animated movie soundtrack CDs. Beethoven’s Wig: Sing Along Symphonies is available from Rounder Kids Records.

And that’s all the ranting from Lake Saline where the snow is falling, the work week is almost over and the children all sing silly songs to classical music. Goodnight, everybody. Thanks for tuning in.

Peace.

¹ From the Talk of the Nation website, RealAudio content.
² From the Talk of the Nation website, RealAudio content.
³ From the All Things Considered website, RealAudio content